


get up

by xspacebound



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, an au of what should've happened instead of beth getting kidnapped, and fluffy i think idk, kinda angsty, very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 05:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6941392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xspacebound/pseuds/xspacebound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>daryl can't sleep but beth is there to reassure him he's not alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	get up

Leaving behind the prison that day had been almost impossible.

-

Watching the flames, seeing nothing but confusion and chaos unleashed on the place Daryl had found to be his safe haven, his home. Behind those walls and fences laid his family, everyone he had come to care for. Rick, Carol, Michonne, Glenn, all the people he would die for in a second without hesitation. His eyes took in the blackened uproar that the Governor had inflicted. Daryl felt like a damn drifter with no sense of direction but this time he was alone. He hadn't been alone in a long time. As he took in the sight before him, he started to panic. Where was Rick? Carl? Were they safe, all of them?

He backed away from his kill, debating on what he should do next. But then he saw her, and he remembers thinking, oh you're alive, you're okay. You're safe.

She came running towards him with her golden hair swinging behind her. She looked like a damn angel even with a weapon in her hands.

"We gotta go, Beth. We gotta go."

-

It seemed like a lifetime ago, so much has happened. But Daryl was still with her and that was all that mattered, really. He didn't like to remember that day but most nights were like this.

Restless.

Which meant there was a whole lot of thinking and he was in no mood to be thinking about shit.

But as he laid in the makeshift bed of blankets on the floor of a dingy cabin they had found, he couldn't stop. His brain was on an never ending loop just replaying the same damn thing over and over again. It wasn't about anything he should've been thinking about. It wasn't about the day they lost the prison. It wasn't about Rick or Carol or Glenn or Maggie. No, it was about the person who was laying right next to him.

He thought of the way Beth had smiled at him earlier that day. The way she had tucked her blonde hair behind her ear before meeting his eyes. He thought about that night at the funeral home where she sang for him, only him. He thought of the way she had looked at him when she realized Daryl was giving himself to her, when he let her know she was the reason why he wanted to continue to live, why he continued to believe good things still existed in this world.

She never got to respond as they were swarmed by walkers in that moment, but they got out together. He couldn't have imagined leaving her. They ran and ended up here, too tired and thankful to have escaped to talk. Beth found blankets in a small closet down the hall and laid them out carefully.

"This is good for tonight, get some sleep." Daryl had told her, gripping his crossbow in one hand, hovering above her laying form.

"You need some sleep too, come lay with me."

Daryl shook his head, "Nah, I'm alright."

Beth had looked up at him. It was dark and he could barely see much but he could always recognize her big blue eyes. "Please," She patted the empty spot next to her and Daryl had many vices but Beth Greene seemed to be the one he could never say no to.

He tried closing his eyes but sleep has never been easy for him, has been that way since the outbreak happened. He stiffened when he felt Beth move.

Daryl froze immediately when he felt small hands find their way closer to him. She snuggled up close until her head was resting right on top of his heart, her arms latching on tightly to his waist.

"Daryl.." Her voice wasn't filled with sleep, she wasn't talking in a dream haze. She was awake, probably has been all along.

"Back there....when you -- did you mean --"

"Yeah," Daryl muttered. He knew what she was asking, that was the thing about them. He had let her see more of himself than anyone, he has show her so much of who he really is. And he finds that he doesn't mind.

He likes the idea of Beth knowing everything about him and never judging him, or turning her back on him. Because he had that same faith in her. Daryl knew Beth was strong, he believed in her when others never did.

"Daryl?"

He looked down at her and caught her gaze. Her head was tipped up, staring at him, waiting for something. Her hand slowly rose to his chest as she began to inch her lips towards his. Daryl knew what was coming but he was scared, fuck, he was terrified. He had never done anything like this before.

She kissed him tenderly, it was light at first until she adjusted her head and pressed harder. The hand on his chest disappeared and reappeared on his cheek, as her lips moved with his. She was so close now, so warm, so alive. Daryl felt himself trembling, he didn't even dare move except his lips as he kissed her back.

He decided in that moment he loved kissing her. Then she hesitantly slipped her tongue inside his mouth, and fuck, he really loved kissing her. They weren't sloppy, messy kisses. They were...passionate. They meant something, they were an outburst of built up tension.

He became rigid as she boldly hitched a leg over his hip, rocking into him a bit. Beth instantly released his lips, "I'm sorry...was that not okay?" Her breathless voice asked.

Daryl looked at her frightened face and gave her a half smile. He wrapped his arms around her small waist, "It's okay, yeah, just can't go farther than this right now alright?"

"Okay," Beth smiles shyly tucking her head beneath Daryl's chin. She sighed as she embraced him again. "We'll go slow."

It was quiet for a moment as they regained their breath, the both of them in sync. "I can feel your heart....it's beatin' so fast." She whispers.

"It is, ain't it?"

"My stomach feels funny," Beth confessed, laughing lightly at herself.

Daryl tucks his hands into her hair, slowly stroking it. He felt nervous, no ones ever made him feel like this. She was right, his heart was beating fast, it was buzzing like a damn bee. He had seen enough crappy romantic comedy movies with Merle while they were getting lit to know what this was. Daryl was no damn idiot, he knew what was happening.

He had just never experienced these emotions first hand, never let himself even get close to someone else like this before. He loved people, of course he did, a child growing up without love always gets attached to the people he's closest to. Rick, Merle, Carol, Michonne, everybody from the prison. They were his family. Took some time, but they were.

But he had never been in love before. Never felt those butterflies people always talk about. Never felt like their cheeks were burning when the person they loved looked back at them.

Beth is his first. And he knows she'll be his last as well.

**Author's Note:**

> this was short and i wrote it a long time ago, hopefully some people like it :)


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